


Violently Clingy

by dracogotgame



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cursed Harry Potter, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-24 20:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13819083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracogotgame/pseuds/dracogotgame
Summary: Draco's rescue mission devolved into a (one-sided) cuddle fest.





	Violently Clingy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Violently Cuddly](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/360333) by ashindk. 



> [Originally published March 2015 as part of the HD-remix fest](http://hd-remix.livejournal.com/79186.html)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Dear ashindk, your fic was a delightful little read. Seeing that it was one of your first attempts at fic writing, it seemed fitting to remix it. The following fic serves as a prequel to your adorable original, aka Draco's side of the story. I hope you enjoy it. L, thank you for the beta! And thank you to the mods, for being supportive and understanding as always.

_Have you found him yet?_  
  
Draco clenched his jaw and trudged further into the forest, refusing to acknowledge the incessantly buzzing Protean bracelet on his wrist until he absolutely had to. Unfortunately for him, Granger had never quite learnt to quit while she was ahead.   
  
_Malfoy, answer me when I ask you a question!_  
  
Draco cursed fluently and spelled back his answer, tapping the bracelet a little harder than necessary.  
  
_If you would just **shut up**  for a minute, perhaps I could concentrate on casting an adequate Tracking Spell, Head Auror. _  
  
A beat of silence passed before her message appeared.  _Don’t take that tone with me, rookie. I’m worried about him, too._  Draco was quite sure if writing could glower disapprovingly it would look exactly like Granger’s terse script.  
  
“Rookie, she says,” he grumbled, shoving his sleeve back down and casting another useless  _Lumos_. Two years he’d been with the DMLE, two years of stake-outs, raids and missions in the rain and snow and the heat and the gloom of the night— perhaps he should have taken a job at the local Owl Postal Service— and somehow he was still the ‘new guy’. Still, he supposed he was being uncharitable. Granger was a good enough boss, all things considered, and he knew she was on his side on this one.  
  
They both wanted Potter back, after all.  
  
“Come on, where are you?” Draco muttered, firing off yet another Tracking Spell. Nothing. He sighed heavily. They were well past the emergency stage now. It had been an entire four hours since anybody had last heard from Potter. No distress signals, no response on the bracelet and his Magic Trace was so hazy and unstable that Draco couldn’t even get a read on the Tracking Charm. The pieces were coming together slowly and they were starting to form a picture he absolutely did not want to entertain.   
  
Granted, the raid on the potion smugglers had gone badly — the textbook definition of How-Not-To-Conduct-a-Recon-Mission. And yes, Thomas was in St. Mungo’s, getting an impressive amount of plant venom extracted from his circulatory system. But that did not necessarily mean Potter had met the same fate. No, Potter would be fine. He had to be. Just because the rescue squad hadn’t been able to locate him when they retrieved Thomas, it did not  _mean_ he was lying in a ditch somewhere, injured and alone. Hurt. Helpless. Possibly...  
  
Draco shook the offending thought out of his head angrily. Enough was enough. He was not going to succumb to melodrama and he was  _not_  going to stand for Potter going AWOL on him. The Fates had been shitty enough to Draco and he was not about to lose the one person he could actually tolerate on a daily basis to a stupid, overgrown petunia that couldn’t keep its fangs to itself.   
  
His bracelet chimed again.  _Any luck?_  
  
Draco’s shoulder slumped as he gazed around the quiet clearing. Not a leaf stirred, let alone an Auror.  
  
“Not so much as a... Wait a minute.” His brow furrowed and he palmed his wand, creeping cautiously towards the sudden rustling. A bush rustled and Draco’s breath hitched.   
  
“Potter? Is that...”  
  
A grey hare shot out of the bush, twitched its ears at him and took off again. Draco cursed a blue streak and kicked at the ground in abject frustration. This was the last straw! He was never going to find Potter in this thrice damned...  
  
“Ooh, bunny!”  
  
Draco froze mid-curse. That voice. Was that... It sounded like...  
  
“Bunny,  _no!_  Come baaack!”  
  
That triggered Draco into action. He was running before he even registered it. “Potter, stay where you are!” he called out. “Don’t move a...”  
  
That was as far as he got before something tall, toned and entirely uncoordinated slammed right into him. Draco went down with an  _oof_  and Potter went down with him.   
  
It was all rather disorienting. Draco’s head swam. His vision blurred at the edges. When things cleared up a bit, his ears were still ringing and Potter’s Auror badge was digging painfully in his cheek.  
  
Unsurprisingly, Potter recovered first.  
  
“Bunny!” he complained plaintively, planting a hand on Draco’s stomach to pull himself up. Draco emitted another pained groan which finally got Potter’s attention.   
  
“Draco!” he cried in delight, flinging himself at Draco for the second time in five seconds. Apparently, ‘flattened co-worker’ ranked marginally higher than ‘bunny’ on his scale of affections at the moment. It would have been a rather nice thought, under slightly different circumstances.  
  
“Yes, it’s good to see you too,” Draco grumbled, somehow managing to sit up with Potter hanging off him like a limpet. “Are you hurt? What in the blazes are you doing, Potter? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve...”  
  
“Mm...”  
  
Draco trailed off and raised a sceptical eyebrow as Potter curled into him. And then, because Draco’s night just hadn’t been weird enough, his colleague actually started purring and nuzzling into his chest like a contented cat. Draco swallowed and his face flushed. Potter was usually... tactile in his interactions but this was odd, even by Draco’s very liberal standards. Potter snuggled against him again and Draco decided that if he didn’t take action this very second, he was looking at a very awkward conversation with Granger in the near future.  
  
“Potter?”  
  
“Mm?”  
  
“What are you doing?”  
  
“Missed you,” Potter supplied. “Missed you  _lots.”_    
  
He threw his arms around Draco’s neck, as if to emphasise the aforementioned missing. Draco squawked in alarm, bracing himself with one hand and holding on to his addled colleague with the other— because there was no doubt now that  _something_  was wrong with Potter.  
  
“The plant got you too, didn’t it?” he asked.  
  
Potter hummed helpfully and tucked himself up neatly in Draco’s arms. Draco groaned. Well, wasn’t that just perfect? With great effort, he managed to pry Potter off him long enough to check him over.  
  
Potter blinked as he was dislodged, staring at Draco with sad, reproachful eyes. Draco resolutely ignored the pang in his chest as he checked the addled idiot over. Dilated pupils, flushed skin... he was definitely out of it. Those green eyes blinked rapidly at Draco, bright and vivid in the dim light.   
  
Draco cleared his throat uncomfortably and busied himself with fixing Potter’s wrinkled robes instead. “How do you feel?” he asked, a tad gruffer than necessary. “Are you dizzy? Disoriented?”  
  
“Hungry,” Potter replied.  
  
“Hungry.”  
  
“Mm hm. D’you have any Chocolate Frogs?”   
  
“No.”   
  
“Why not?” Potter whined, taking the opportunity to paw at Draco’s robes again, presumably in search of the nonexistent Chocolate Frogs.  
  
“Because unlike certain people I can and won’t mention, I’m not eight years old at the moment!” Draco snapped, trying to shove his hands off. Potter held fast and Draco groaned in dismay. “Potter, stop taking liberties with my person this instant.”  
  
Potter managed a small snort of amusement and gave him a fond, almost indulgent look. “You’re always so proper,” he crooned. “And pretty.  _So_  pretty, Malfoy...”   
  
Right. Officially too weird. Time to call in the troops, then. Draco tapped his bracelet, firmly resolving  _not_  to focus on the fact that he was making an official report with Potter sitting in his lap.  
  
_I found him._  
  
Granger’s relief was almost palpable.  _Thank Merlin,_ she wrote.  _Is he all right?_  
  
_He’s a little disoriented, but he’ll pull through. Looks like Thomas got the worst of it._  
  
_Can I talk to him? I tried reaching him on his bracelet but he didn’t respond._  
  
Draco chanced a look at Potter. He was humming happily and playing with a loose button on Draco’s shirt. He looked so happy and content right now— not to mention completely oblivious of all the trouble he’d caused. Draco rolled his eyes.  
  
_Like I said, he’s out of it. A good night’s rest should fix him, though. Meet you back at HQ for debrief?_  
  
Granger took her time. Then a message appeared on Draco’s wrist.  _Actually, maybe you should stay put._  
  
Draco gaped.  _What?_  
  
_He doesn’t sound like he’s well enough for Side-along. I reckon you’re tired too. So just stay put for the night and we’ll figure things out in the morning._  
  
Draco sputtered. Potter purred and hooked a hand into his collar, accidentally grazing skin. Draco’s throat suddenly felt a touch too dry.  _I can’t do that!_  he spelled back furiously.  
  
_And why not?_  Granger demanded.   
  
Draco could practically see her eyebrow raise and it made him cringe a little. How could he even begin to explain his predicament?  _He’s being clingy._  
  
_Clingy._  
  
Potter tightened his hold and snuffled against his neck.  _Violently clingy,_  Draco confirmed.  
  
_Oh,_  Granger replied helpfully.  _Yeah, he does that. Well, see you in the morning, Malfoy. I’m signing off. Take care of him._  
  
_Granger! Don’t you dare hang up on me! You–_    
  
But she was already gone. The signal faded away to nothing.  
  
Draco emitted a growl of frustration which must have startled Potter because he jumped, wide eyes darting in sudden alarm.  
  
“Not you,” Draco reassured at once, patting his back. Potter blinked a few times before offering a small smile and settling back against Draco’s chest. Draco wished he had the luxury of reassurance. For now though, he was in charge. Potter was in no shape to do anything but sleep, and Granger had practically left them to his limited devices for the night. It was all up to Draco now.  
  
“Don’t worry,” he murmured, perhaps more to himself than Potter. “I’ll think of something, yeah?”  
  
“Not worried,” Potter mumbled. “You’re here.”  
  
Draco cracked a small smile and tightened his hold on Potter. He really was rather endearing like this. All sweet and guileless and trusting... A real Slytherin would have scoffed at Potter’s iron clad trust in him, tried to find an opportunity or an advantage in this situation, leverage for the upper hand. And yet, all Draco could think about was how to get Potter to a safe spot so he could recover in peace. What did that say about him, he wondered. When had he changed? More importantly,  _why_  had he changed? Surely, there must be a reason, a rational explanation for it all.  
  
And when he chanced a look down at Potter nestled comfortably against him— Potter with his ceaseless optimism, courage that bordered on foolhardy, and with a heart as stubborn as that thick head of his— he thought he could probably take a wild guess.  
  
But, perhaps, that was something that could wait until later.  
  
“Come on,” he said, heaving Potter up as gently as he could. “There’s a place we can stay the night— an old hunting lodge. Can you make it that far?”  
  
Potter blinked at him. “Dunno. Are you coming?”  
  
Draco couldn’t stop the small, fond smile that tugged at his lips. “Yes, Potter. I’ll be right by your side.”  
  
Potter hummed happily and tucked his head into the crook of Draco’s neck again. “Well, that’s all right then.”  
  
Draco chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to the addled idiot’s forehead. “You know what, Potter? I think it will be.”


End file.
